Cupid’s Match

Cal marches me outside. The storm from earlier has passed, leaving puddles of water on the ground. The army of Venus’s agents have begun to march back up Juliet Hill and their boots squelch in the mud. Cal and I follow, his hand tightly curled around my arm.

“How could you do this?” I seethe, craning my neck to try and look at his face.

Cal ignores me, continuing to push me along from behind. I think of Cupid, unconscious on the floor, and the steely gaze of the Commander as he instructed Cal to take me. I have to get away from these people.

With all the force I can muster I pull my arm away. It slips out of Cal’s hand and I feel a moment of brief elation before he grabs me again and whirls me around to face him.

“Where are you going to go, Lila? Look around you. They’d catch you in an instant. Would you really rather someone else take you in?”

“Yes,” I hiss at him. “I’d rather be taken in by anyone other than you.”

For a moment I think I detect a flash of hurt, which gives me a harsh satisfaction.

“Believe me, Lila, no, you wouldn’t.”

He pushes me ahead of him and we continue walking up the hill. As we do, one of the passing agents—dark haired and tanned—looks at me and smirks. He looks familiar and I realize with a jolt where I’ve seen him before.

“He’s one of the Arrows. I shot him when we rescued Crystal. This is who you’ve chosen over your own brother?”

“The Arrows have always been an extension of the Cupids Matchmaking Service, if a little extreme,” he says. “But we’re all united under Her now.”

After a push, we start walking once more. When we reach the top of the hill, I halt. Hundreds of expensive-looking cars line the summit. Being a cupid has its perks, Cal had said to me when he trained me for the first time.

I attempt to throw another angry look over my shoulder at him. How could he do this? To me? To Cupid? He stops moving. Our eyes catch—and for just a moment the angles in his face seem to soften. His mouth parts.

It gives me hope.

Maybe he hasn’t betrayed us.

Maybe this is all an act.

Maybe he’ll just take me in a car and drive me away from all this.

Maybe . . .

“You’re traveling with us,” says the cold-faced Commander, marching up beside Cal. “Need to keep an eye on you both.”

He heads to a red Ferrari parked at the very front of the lot, where a stern blond awaits. She points a key at the car and two side doors slide upward. They climb inside. Cal marches me toward it.

“Get in.”

His face is hard and, in an instant, the hope is gone. I look around frantically, trying to determine if there’s any way to escape. Cupids are still making their way up the hill and climbing into cars. There are too many of them. There’s no way out of this.

I have to turn around to get in the seat, and when I do, I meet Cal’s eyes again. The angles of his face are sharp.

“Please, Lila,” he says. “Just get in the car.”

I stare at him for another moment and then do as he says. I have no choice: where else can I go? Cal gets in beside me. The doors close and the female agent starts the engine. It’s then that if finally hits me.

This is it.

They’re taking me to Venus.

No one speaks on the journey. Cal stares down at his hands as he twists them in his lap, and doesn’t look at me once. Turning in my seat, I glance out of the rear window, squinting against the early morning light. We’re riding down a wide L.A. freeway with tall palm trees standing at attention on either side. The stream of the cupids’ expensive cars surrounds us.

We must be heading to the Matchmaking Service. If Venus is the founder, then surely that’s where she’ll be. I try to cling to the hope that, while Cal might have betrayed us, Crystal could still be on side; maybe she will help me make my escape.

Soon we reach the boulevard where the Cupids Matchmaking Service stands. The driver presses a button on the dashboard and the pavement ahead slides open. She maneuvers the car through the opening and we drive down a ramp into a large underground garage. The girl parks the Ferrari in a space marked Priority Parking. Then she opens the car doors and my body turns cold.

“Thank you, Claire,” says the Commander before looking over his seat at Cal and me. “Time to meet the boss,” he says before climbing out.

“Get out,” Cal says, still not looking at me.

I ignore him, my mind struggling to process what is happening. I was matched with Cupid. Cal betrayed us. They’re taking me to meet an ancient goddess. She wants to kill me. This can’t be real. It can’t be.

Cal grabs his bow and quiver, climbs out of the car, and then purposefully makes his way over to my side. He opens the door and stands there stiffly for a moment, waiting for me to move. I don’t. He sighs and leans across me—so close that I can smell his cologne. As he does so, I catch a hint of gold among the arrows in his quiver—the Finis.

As he unbuckles my seat belt, he turns to look at me, something in his expression that I can’t read. For a moment I think he’s going to say something.

But he doesn’t.

Grabbing my arm, he pulls me up out of the car as the other agents’ cars veer into the garage. The air smells like petrol and exhaust fumes. The Commander and Claire are both watching us.

“Come on,” says Cal.

I wrestle my arm out of his grip. “Don’t touch me.”

A thin smile crosses the Commander’s face, and he shrugs. “She can walk on her own. This way please.” He gestures toward a plain door in the corner of the garage, then walks ahead.

Neither Cal nor I move. I stare at him, breathing hard, and his pale eyebrows furrow.

“Lila. Don’t.” His voice is weary.

I turn and run. I sprint past the cars still flooding into the garage; the sound of their horns and the skidding of their brakes as they swerve to avoid me creates an unpleasant chaotic symphony. I leap away from a white suit who tries to stop my escape, eyes fixed on the ramp leading to the street, before two hands grab my arms and pull me back into a hard chest.

I spin around, almost nose to nose with Cal.

“I thought you were my friend,” I say.

“And I thought you weren’t stupid enough to fall for Cupid and bring back Venus.”

Anger burns through my veins. I think about the dance, and the pain behind his eyes when he saw me out on the terrace.

“Is that what this is all about?” I say. “Is that why you’re doing this? Because I kissed Cupid? This is what I deserve? I kissed your brother and so you want to hand me over to an ancient goddess who wants to kill me? Way to overreact, Cal.”

His features harden and he looks like he’s about to retort, but I don’t give him chance. I spin on my heel—feeling the eyes of the other agents getting out of their cars—and storm after the Commander. He is watching us curiously as we reach the door.

We enter a nondescript stairwell and Claire leads us into an elevator. Inside, the mirrored walls reflect my messy hair and clothes, still slightly damp from the rain. My face is paler than usual, and I note the dark smudges underneath my eyes.

“Which floor?” asks Claire.

“Her floor,” says the Commander. “She’ll want to see the Match right away.”

My knees feel a little weak at that, so I lean against the elevator wall for support as we begin to ascend. My three captors ignore me, all staring directly ahead at the sliding doors. When they open, I’m marched into a clinical-looking waiting room whose glass coffee table is surrounded by the same neon-colored armchairs that sit in the reception.

“Take a seat,” says Cal.

As I do so, Claire and the Commander speak to a slender, red-haired young man at the reception booth.

“Venus’s PA,” Cal murmurs from across the table.

I shoot him a withering look. “I didn’t ask.”

After a few moments the Commander and Claire come back. “Charles will let you know when the boss is ready,” says the Commander, then gives a gruff nod to Cal before he and Claire head back into the elevator, leaving us alone.

Cal sits in the luminous green armchair beside me. We wait in silence for what seems like forever. Then there is a beep and Charles the PA moves from behind his white booth. His gaze brushes over Cal then focuses on me.

“She is ready,” he says. “Venus will see you now.”